CBC cuts 657 jobs over two years; end of Hockey Night in Canada production cited as main reason

Marc Weisblott, Canada.com04.10.2014

CBC president Hubert Lacroix announced on Thursday afternoon that 657 jobs would be cut over the next two years for reasons that included — although were not limited to — the end of Hockey Night in Canada production at the CBC.

CBC president Hubert Lacroix announced on Thursday afternoon that 657 jobs would be cut over the next two years for reasons that included — although were not limited to — the end of Hockey Night in Canada production at the CBC.

A total of $130-million had to be cut from the annual expenses at the CBC in order to balance the budget, he explained.

Professional sports will no longer be on the agenda with the NHL rights snapped up by Rogers in its $5.2-billion deal but amateur sports coverage will continue including the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Further expansion of local CBC services have also been halted. A planned local Radio One station for London, Ont. was among the cancelled initiatives.

Heather Conway, the recently-appointed vice-president of English services, told the town hall meeting accessible to 7,000 employees that the recent challenges included the fact that the 25-54 demographic was not being reached with the current prime-time lineup on CBC.

The full statement is below:

CBC/Radio-Canada today announced its 2014-2015 budget. Due to market realities, the plan includes immediate and difficult cuts of $130 million and the equivalent of 657 positions over the next two fiscal years. The Corporation is also incurring one-time severance costs of $33.5 million.

"Today, we have made the tough decisions necessary to balance our current budget" said Hubert T. Lacroix, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada. "As the media landscape changes, CBC/Radio-Canada will also need to re-imagine itself in order to continue delivering on the mandate with which we were entrusted over 75 years ago."

CBC/Radio-Canada is faced with financial challenges ranging from an industry-wide softening of the advertising market, disappointing schedule performance in key demographics on CBC Television, much lower-than-expected ad revenues from Espace musique and CBC Radio 2, and the NHL's decision to move to a single, exclusive broadcaster. These reductions are in addition to significant pressures already managed by the Corporation since 2008/2009, due in part to actions surrounding the Deficit Reduction Action Plan (DRAP) and the elimination of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF).

In making these reductions, management's decisions were influenced by its Strategy 2015: Everyone, Every way, and its key pillars designed to maintain the Corporation's future ability to invest in strategically important areas, while continuing to provide Canadians with services and programs that inform, enlighten and entertain.

Our National Presence:

Prime time television

Audio talk programming

National news

High impact national websites

Our Regional Presence:

Focus and commitment to the regions

Modernize delivery of services

Previously announced plans for further expansion cancelled

Our Digital Presence:

Allocate 5% of programming budgets to digital

Focus on high-impact and strategic initiatives

Mr. Lacroix continued: "Today's budget announcement is about three things: 1. making choices and doing fewer things better, 2. modernizing how we do what we do, and 3. accelerating the process of reinventing Canada's public broadcaster to meet the future needs of Canadians, taking into account a much lower revenue base."

These three elements are demonstrated in the difficult choices announced today:

Sports: CBC and Radio-Canada will no longer compete with private broadcasters for professional sports rights. We will also cover fewer events and fewer sports. In addition, our involvement in amateur sports will be reduced. We will only broadcast events that allow us to break even.

We remain committed to signature events of national importance such as the Olympics; but, as with Sochi, we'll approach these events in new ways - new ways of producing, new technologies and new partnership arrangements.

Regions: CBC/Radio-Canada will maintain its presence and news-gathering capabilities in the regions. However, planned expansions have been cancelled, including plans for a station in London, Ontario.

"It's clear we can't be resizing the public broadcaster every two years," continued Lacroix. "It is equally clear that the media landscape is transforming at an astounding speed. To meet this challenge, we have accelerated a strategic planning exercise that was already underway. This new strategic framework, which we will announce in the coming months, will guide the Corporation's evolution towards a smaller, more nimble and more open public broadcaster. It will ensure that the services we provide, and the operating model that supports those services, evolve in tandem with the changing expectations of Canadians and the movements of our industry. Today's announcement is not an end point, but a pivot point into a period of accelerated change."

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CBC cuts 657 jobs over two years; end of Hockey Night in Canada production cited as main reason

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